Lottery win leaves single dad jumping in NC store. ‘Could have danced on the counter’
A single dad bought a winning lottery ticket — then a “celebration broke out” at a North Carolina convenience store.
“I was jumping up and down in the store,” winner Donald Burgess told the N.C. Education Lottery in a March 1 news release. “I could have danced on the counter.”
Burgess couldn’t contain his excitement after a trip to Calabash Food & Fuel, near the South Carolina border and roughly 50 miles southwest of Wilmington. While at the store, officials said he tried his luck on a ticket of the Fabulous Fortune scratch-off game.
“The store employees and customers were all congratulating me,” Burgess said after his $30 ticket turned into a $100,000 prize.
Now, Burgess plans to spend his winnings on bills and truck payments. He told the N.C. Education Lottery the prize was a “game changer for him and his daughter.”
“It will certainly make our lives better,” Burgess said in the news release. “I’m a single dad and this really and truly is a blessing.”
Burgess, a 61-year-old who works as a handyman, reportedly kept $71,259 after taxes. He lives in Ocean Isle Beach, a coastal town in Brunswick County.
“I always dreamed something like this would happen, but I never really believed it until now,” he told lottery officials.
It’s not the first time a store has erupted into celebration over a lottery win. In February, officials said a woman hit the jackpot, leaving a North Carolina cashier jumping with joy.
This story was originally published March 2, 2023 at 5:50 AM with the headline "Lottery win leaves single dad jumping in NC store. ‘Could have danced on the counter’."
